Pressure can turn our work into diamonds, but it can also crumble us into dust.

We have a tendency to lionize pressure. “No pressure, no diamonds,” according to philosopher Thomas Carlyle. “Courage is grace under pressure,” so Ernest Hemingway tells us. Kobe Bryant puts it thus: “Everything negative(i.e. pressure) challenges, is another opportunity for me to rise.”

According to this worldview, pressure is what pushes us to be our best. It’s a chance to show others what we’re made of. Thanks to pressure, we reach our peak performance. And there’s some truth to this, but it’s more complicated than it seems. Pressure can turn our work into diamonds, but it can also crumble us into dust.

If anyone can speak to the downside of this philosophy, it’s salespeople and executives. They understand what constant pressure really looks like: the anxiety that never quite goes away, the sleepless nights, the unending feeling of strain, the exhaustion, and the fraying personal relationships. If it was all worth it—if pressure did, in fact, always create diamonds—maybe we could live with it a little better. Unfortunately, the research suggests otherwise. Numerous studies have been done on this topic over the last couple decades, and the consensus is that the value of pressure on our work really depends on the context. When pressure is combined with “sufficient resources,” it can lead to improved outcomes. Unfortunately, that kind of relationship tends to be short term. Longer term, stress also leads to:

• Depleted capacity, with stress draining our energy, focus, resilience, and creativity
• Reduced decision-making capabilities and mental and emotional exhaustion

Another study found that, “Elevated stress levels can impede performance on tasks that require divided attention, working memory, retrieval of information from memory, and decision making.”

I’d be willing to bet anyone reading this can recognize some of those symptoms. Whenever I’m in a room with salespeople or business leaders, I ask about the level of pressure their under and how it affects their performance. We always end up with a list that is pretty close to what those studies say.

There is a biological basis behind these results. Pressure creates stress in our bodies, which leads to the release of a hormone called cortisol [SL1] (along with others, like the better-known adrenaline). Cortisol plays a really important part in our ability to overcome challenging situations. It releases sugar into the blood stream to give us a quick boost in our brain processing and extra power in our muscles. It also slows nonessential processes. Things like digestion take a backseat. All of this leads to what we commonly refer to as our fight or flight reflex. So far as our bodies are concerned, this stress is registering as a life-and-death scenario where we have to be prepared to do what it takes to survive.

When we are in a tense moment with a client or making a presentation before the board, this can be a short-term benefit. We are temporarily sharper and more resourceful. We’re performing at that peak level. This is what Kobe Bryant is referring to in the quote above. During a big game, the pressure releases his cortisol, so he’s able to play at a higher level.

If that pressure is not temporary, though—if it remains continuously high—this same natural stress response can severely affect our health. According to the Mayo Clinic, that can lead to:

• Anxiety.
• Depression.
• Digestive problems.
• Headaches.
• Muscle tension and pain.
• Heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure and stroke.
• Sleep problems.
• Weight gain.
• Problems with memory and focus.

That’s not a great list to contemplate when you’re already stressed-out, I know. But in some ways, it gets worse when we add in the symptoms I already listed above. When we are constantly flooding our brains with cortisol (and related hormones), we weaken our ability to concentrate, remember, make decisions, and multi-task. We become less creative. Our thinking becomes less flexible. Pressure may also affect our ability to regulate our emotions (although one study found that this was context dependent).

We subconsciously compensate for these deficiencies in many different ways. For instance, we often begin to engage in “masking.” Essentially, we stop sounding like ourselves. We perform, and as our audiences are keen detectors of performance, much of what is said falls into the Believability Gap[SL2] . They don’t believe us because can sense we are being false in some way. This reduces the likelihood we make a sense or get the buy-in we need.

With our mental and emotional resources reduced, our mask is used to compensate, but instead of compensating, it further reduces our effectiveness in communicating.

All the pressure, and the results are worse.

The Right Amount of Pressure

What all this research suggests is there is a right amount of pressure and a right way to engage with it. Under the right level of pressure, our performances do improve. Too little pressure, and we can’t rise to our true potential. But too much, and our performance declines while we slowly wind our way toward burning out.

How can we know where we are along that pressure spectrum? To some extent, you might be able to eyeball it for yourself. Do you feel like you’re under an appropriate amount of pressure? Kobe Bryant certainly felt like the level of pressure that came with being an NBA All-Star was ideal for his performance. Perhaps that’s you too.

More likely, though, you’ve been swimming in these pressure-soaked waters for so long, you can’t tell if the temperature is boiling you, giving you hypothermia, or just right. Before you can make any changes to these pressure dynamics, then, you’ve got to find a way to step outside your experience and see it more clearly. I’ve developed a pressure check diagnostic worksheet that allows you to score your pressure, getting a life pressure check that’s accurate and easily understood[SL3] [SL4] . I recommend you check it out.

Of course, labeling how much excess pressure you’re living under is only a first step. There’s much work to do. But let’s save that for another post. For now, simply knowing that pressure is high and likely affecting your performance is enough to begin thinking toward a better way to engage with work and pressure.